(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
The origin of the Seventh-day Adventists (SDAs) can be traced to the Millerite
Movement of the 19th Century. This movement was largely responsible
for what has been called the Great Second Advent Awakening. William
Miller (1782-1849) was a farmer who settled in upstate New York after the
war of 1812. He was originally a Deist (a person who believes that God created
the universe but has not been actively involved since). After two years of
private Bible study, Miller converted to Christianity and became a Baptist
lay leader. He was convinced that the Bible contained coded information about
the end of the world and the Second Coming of Jesus. He also realized that
he had an obligation to teach his findings to others. In 1831, he started
to preach; the next year, he wrote articles. In 1833, he published a pamphlet
on end-time prophecy. In 1836, his book Evidences From Scripture And
History Of The Second Coming of Christ (1843) was published.
He expounded on Natural hygiene, raw food diets, water fasting, a vegetarianism
diet, and an admonition to do no harm to other forms of life. We can see
some of the same lifestyle today with the Seventh Day Adventists that was
practiced by the Essenes 2,000 years ago.